Presidential Office on 'MBC Correction Report Ruling': "Will Settle Exhaustive Debate... Restore Public Trust"

Court: "MBC Must Issue Correction for 'If Biden Loses' Case"
Lee Do-woon, Chief of Public Relations, "Subtitle Manipulated Without Objective Verification"

The Presidential Office stated on the 12th regarding MBC's 'subtitle controversy' that arose during President Yoon Seok-yeol's visit to the United States in September 2022, following the court's ruling ordering a correction report, that it will "correct the false reports and quell the unproductive political strife based on unfounded facts."

Lee Do-woon, the Presidential Office's Chief Public Relations Officer, held a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office that afternoon and said, "It is extremely irresponsible for a broadcaster claiming to be public to manipulate subtitles without scientific and objective verification procedures, producing false reports that significantly affect national interests." He added, "This ruling will correct false reports and quell unproductive political strife based on unfounded facts," and "We expect it to serve as an opportunity to restore the public's trust in our diplomacy and government."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, the 12th Civil Division of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Seong Ji-ho) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the correction report lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs against MBC. The essence of the ruling was to order MBC to issue a correction report regarding the 'subtitle controversy.' The court ordered, "The defendant shall have the anchor read the correction statement listed in the attached document once at a normal pace at the beginning of the first broadcast of the News Desk program after this judgment is finalized, and during the reading, the title and body of the correction statement shall be continuously displayed in subtitles with the usual font and size used in the program."

Previously, when President Yoon visited New York, USA, on September 22, 2022, he was recorded leaving an international conference hall saying, "If these XX in the National Assembly don't approve it, what if OOO is embarrassed?" This was captured on the pool screen of the press corps. MBC reported this with the subtitle 'Biden' for the 'OOO' part, but the Presidential Office explained that he said 'nallimyeon' (meaning 'if it is dropped'), not 'Biden,' and that he was referring to our National Assembly, not the U.S. Congress. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs attempted mediation through the Press Arbitration Commission regarding this report but failed to reach an agreement and filed a lawsuit against MBC requesting a correction report.

However, during the trial, regarding the voice analysis of President Yoon's statement at the time, even the expert examiner submitted an opinion stating that analysis was impossible, so the authenticity of the statement was ultimately not determined in court.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.